Commonly, cans, bottles, or other containers for soft drinks or other beverages are marketed in packages comprising four, six, eight, or twelve containers in machine-applied carriers made from sheet-form, resilient, polymeric material, such as low density polyethylene. The carriers are made, as by die-cutting, so as to have band segments defining container-receiving apertures that are designed to be stretched to receive cans and bottles.
Although such polymeric carriers have many advantages, particularly as compared to predominantly paperboard carriers, such polymeric carriers have some shortcomings. A major shortcoming is that such polymeric carriers do not provide expansive surfaces for pricing, barcoding, or other labelling of the packages.
As exemplified in Poupitch U.S. Pat. No. 2,874,835 and Poupitch U.S. Pat. No. 3,016,136, it has been known to employ separate wire or other handles with such polymeric carriers. Although handles as known heretofore are useful with such polymeric carriers, such known handles do not provide suitable labelling surfaces.
An improved carrier made from sheet-form, resilient, polymeric material, such as low density polyethylene, and having an upwardly extending handle portion made from similar polymeric material is disclosed in Broskow U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/230,308 filed Apr. 20, 1994, and assigned commonly herewith. In the improved carrier disclosed therein, neither the carrier nor the handle provides suitable labelling surfaces.
Bottle carriers of related interest can be also made from folded sheet material without employing resilient carriers, as exemplified in Price U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,446,161 and 2,563,065.
This invention has resulted from efforts to provide an improved package for bottles or other containers for soft drinks or other beverages.